Beads, Braids & Beyond

Nikki from Beads, Braids & Beyond  has a great blog where she shows how to create cute hair styles for little girls, along with useful styling tips and kid friendly product information. She also highlights a lot of her readers children and their hair styles.  Look below for my interview with Nikki -

What inspired you to create the Beads Braids Beyond blog?

The lack of information on Biracial/African American children's hair care inspired me to create the blog. I remember being "the clueless mom" and not knowing where to start when it came to my daughter’s hair. I remember goggling and goggling and never being able to find a lot of information on my daughter’s hair type, or being able to find styles that I could. I found countless blogs for children with naturally straight hair, "what about our children?" … I thought. Don't get me wrong, I love those other blogs, but I wanted to see a blog dedicated to natural Biracial/African American children’s hair. I wanted to see our children’s hair being embraced. 

How do you come up with so many creative styles?

All of my style inspirations come from other women and mothers. I browse a lot of different forums, blogs, and other hair care sites and I try to tweak a lot of styles so they are appropriate for my daughter’s age. There are so many talented women out there so I definitely owe my style inspiration to them.

How old is your daughter, and what does she like most about being the star of your blog?

My daughter is 4 years old. I think her favorite thing to do is seeing all of the other children featured on the blog. My daughter is the only child with curly hair in her class so I think it's a nice change to see so many other natural children with curly hair.

She seems to love participating in the styling process. Most kids don't have the patience! What keeps her interested showing off her cool hairstyles?

Well, depending on how long the style takes, we might take breaks. Snack breaks, run around the kitchen table breaks, restroom breaks, etc. I think I keep her interested. We talk the whole time I am styling or washing her hair. If we're watching one of her favorite cartoons/movies I make it a point to sing along with her and dance. Her current favorite is The Princess and the Frog. The songs are really great and when mommy gets into them....it's over! She definitely gets into it and forgets her hair is even being styled! I think the styling process is all about mother and daughter bonding time. It's important for me to show her that doing her hair is not a chore, that I enjoy it, and we should enjoy this time together.

You have a great following. How long have you been blogging?

I started Beads, Braids & Beyond at the end of October 2009. I think it's amazing that the word got out so quickly. This goes to show that people were waiting for something for our kids. I mean...I was waiting myself! I couldn't wait any longer. I actually asked some moms on another hair board if they would make a blog but it seemed like everyone was too busy, so I took the plunge. Your styles and post have been great inspirations to other Moms.

What has been one of your most cherished moments as result of sharing your knowledge through your blog?

Probably all of the emails and comments I get. So many mothers (and non-mothers) email me thanking me for taking the time out to create this blog. Some moms find the blog and are like me when I first started, clueless. They tell me how much the information I provide helps and show me pictures. They tell me there are no more tears during "hair time" and that they now look forward to the mother and daughter bonding experience. I have also had emails and comments thanking me for my Texture Softener post because they were going to use it on their child. I am always happy to hear that they changed their mind about relaxing their child’s hair, or that they are transitioning their little diva.

What are some of the products you use regularly for your daughters hair type?

Right now we are experimenting with products. We have tried lots and it's funny because most of her staple products are pretty cheap: Virgin coconut oil, unrefined shea butter, Herbal Essence Hello Hydration conditioner, Giovanni Direct Leave-in, ORS Lock & Twist Gel. I currently love Blended Cutie Down & Out Styles for her hair. There are other products I really like for her hair but those are the main ones we use.

What is your advice for styling curly hair?

Don't try to fight it! It will fight you back. If your hair wants to be big, it will be big. LET IT BE BIG! A lot of people email me asking how to get "the wet look" and in my opinion, you cannot get the wet look! You can define your curls but it definitely will not look like it does when it's wet once it dries. I don't care what product you use. If the hair wants to be frizzy one day, let it be frizzy. Don't keep chasing your child around the house with a spray bottle filled with water. I am going to take a quote I see in so many forums..."Let it do what it do!"

Beads, Braids & Beyond 
Nikki's You Tube Videos

Your Advice for Dry Skin

Dry skin has always been a big issue for me. I am always struggling to find the right moisturizer for my face and lotion for my body. What do you use? Let us know what products you would recommend and have been heaven sent for you?

Big wet hair!

I love these headbands! They are perfect for after washing my hair. I can pile my hair on top of my head, and make a loose bun, and take my time palm rolling my hair. With these headbands, I can do this and still feel comfortable with the weight of my hair on the top of my head (which is really heavy when wet). These are really gentle. They do not pull your hair. And they are easy to use.

I recommend them to any one that feels like their hair is really heavy after washing it. Or just any one that wants to get their hair out of their face. I have been trying to find the actual style name of this kind of hair band, so I can search for it online. I usually just get lucky, like I did with these, and find them at a local Ross Store. But I have also seem them occasionally at CVS or Walgreens. But not often. If you see them, buy it! It's a great find. I got all of these for $3 dollars (the price at Ross). Needless to say, at that price, I got two packs... ;-).

Kind of freaked out a little...lol

Last night, I was on the computer with one of my daughter's, playing a learning game. My lovely husband came by and wanted to see how we were doing. So things are going great. Then I realize something. He is holding our cat in his arms, standing above my head. Nothing wrong with that right? Well it would have been cool - if my cat wasn't shedding up a storm. So while my husband is petting my cat above my head, all this cat hair is just falling on my head... Aaaagghhh!!!

I love my cats. But cat hair and loc's do not mix. If cat hair gets in loc's/dreadlocks, it can get embedded in the hair and become a part of the loc. My husband is usually very careful about that kind of stuff. But at that moment, he didn't not realize how much our cat (Jazzy) was shedding. So he helped me get out all the cat hair that was visible to the eye. But after that, I also spent about 10 minutes brushing my locs, just to make sure that all the cat hair was out. Crisis averted... I can breath again.

The Lint Fix - for Loc's!

Good morning! I am barely awake. But I wanted to put together this quick post before starting my day. One of the only unfortunate parts of having loc's/dreads, is that once in a while, we get lint stuck in our hair. This happens because we don't brush our hair daily (as far as I know this is the main reason. Feel free to let me know if there are any other reasons why this happens). Having lint in my loc's is very embarrassing. It has nothing to do with how clean your hair is. You can wash it every day, but the lint will find its way in there some how, from sweaters, towels, blankets... you name it. It's not often, but it happens. For me, its my biggest pet peeve, when it comes to my hair, because I am such a neat freak. I don't ever want to give the impression that I am not a clean person, because I am!

Most of you will already know this quick fix. If you are unable to get the link out, by using your fingers, or tweezers - please do not kill your loc's by breaking them apart, to get the lint out. If you are breaking open your loc's for this, you are weakening the loc and it will eventually fall off. If you are not able to get the lint out, simply use a sharpie marker to mask the color of the lint. All you have to do is quickly dab the small area where the lint is, and the marker ink will cover the color of the lint. And it will no longer be visible. I know leaving the lint in sounds gross, but if you can not get it out - its better to cover it with sharpie, than to kill your locs in the process.

I use the brown marker. It works best for me because I have about three shades in my hair - black, brown and brownish red. So not matter where, the brown will do the trick for me. I don't have to use it often, but I try to carry this with me in case of any emergencies. To cut down on lint, always cover you hair when you sleep at night or when you are cleaning. And also try this brushing technique before washing your hair. It helps to get lint out of your loc's. If any one else knows of any great fix it tips, let us know by replying to this post...

or emailing me at naturalhairbeautfy@gmail.com.

The Big Fix

Ok, so I had no idea I was going to need so many pictures, to show the steps of how I fix my broken loc's. A lot of you will probably already know this tip, but I thought I would share it any way. I would also like people to remark on the fact that my hair "fix it" includes adding hair, which is often a no no, if you are natural... But, I really wanted to find a way to fix fallen, broken or weak loc's without combining loc's. And this works for me. But I am open to hearing your opinion on this process. I also apologize in advance, because this post is so long! If you read my previous post: Poor babies, you already know that I had four loc's that broke off and why.

If you want to try this process, you will need Human Kinky Hair (in a color that matches your locs), a thick thread (also in a color that matches your locs), and a needle.



Follow these steps (see pictures for each step):

1.Needle is inserted into the head of the broken loc.



2.After pulling the thread all the way through, re-insert the needle into the same area, so that the needle comes out of the head of the broken loc (please see picture).



3. Insert needle into the loc, that the broken loc came from.



4. Pull thread so that the loc and broken loc meet together.

5. Take a small amount of the Human kinky hair.

6. Wrap the hair around the section of the loc where it was sewn together.



7. Use the loc as a third piece, as you braid the kinky hair in, to cover the sewn together section. Once you have finished braiding the hair in, it should completely cover the whole section that was sewn together. If there is a little bit of hair human hair left after braiding it in, just wrap the excess hair around the loc.

8. After this is done, your loc should be fully connected. But I would recommend waiting to do this process when you are not planning to wash your hair or do a major style. You want this newly fixed loc to be able to reconnect, and it needs a few days to re-adjust to its new home. Also, after finishing the repair, your loc may have a bumpy appearance. This is easy to fix.

9. Simply use the palm roll method to smooth out the loc. And you are done!

So this is how I fix my locs. With this method, I can avoid combining locs and still save each individual loc maintained, to keep fullness. Let me know what you think of this process. Would you try it? Is it worth it to you, to add hair, in order to avoid combining loc's? And thank you for reading this post. I know.. it is way to long :-).

Poor Babies!

Aww yes... The fallen ones!

No ones loc's or hair is perfect. Me - I am a full time mom, wife and I have a full time job. With this, as most of you know, comes the need to workout, so I can be healthy enough to see my children grow, and to meet and care for my future grand children. I also have to run a household and I have the (sometimes unrealistic) desire to make everyone happy at all times. This means, I am always busy. From 6:00 am till 11:00 pm, I am on the go and always needed by someone, somewhere. This is the life of a working mom and wife, as I am sure most of you are aware of this. I love my family, so I will not complain.

But, I often neglect myself in the process of taking care of everyone else. So that's where my fallen loc's come into play. A little bit of stress, lack of constant maintenance and a crazy crazy schedule has caused me to not only ignore a few week spots, but to just push aside locs that have fallen out!! Man o Man.... Ok, so its time for damage control. I will work on this today and take pictures showing how each of these loc's found a home. Stay Tuned!!

Such a bad habbit... :-(

I just realized that I have been doing something that's damaging to my hair, without even realizing it. If my roots are not freshly twisted and I have fresh new growth at the base of my loc's, I will run my fingers through my hair and pull out little naps when I am bored or stressed. I use to do this once in a while, but just realized that I have been doing this like once or twice a day. This is not a good habit to have. Especially since once I wash my hair, the little naps will loosen up and help to keep the base of my loc's stronger. I need to keep my hand out of my hair. If I keep this up, my hair is going to start to thin out and cause my locs to be thinner and weaker. So I think I just learned my lesson. No hands in my hair unless absolutely necessary...